Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Mumbai, Chennai — the deluge has been steadily coming, with greater and growing ferocity. Clearly, this is the effect of climate change and a consequence of how disrespectfully we’ve been treating our planet and its resources.
In an old, familiar story, the wind and the sun compete with each other to see who is more powerful: the harder the wind blows, the tighter a man huddles inside his coat; the more fiery the sun, the more desperate he is to shed his clothes. This past month and more, the sun and the rain have been locked in combat, in Chennai. We imagine the sun will eventually prevail, but we don’t yet know how long this battle will run. However, there’s one other factor that determines how good the fight goes; and that’s the human spirit.
Extraordinary heroes
Whenever there is a calamity, human or natural, somehow, people draw upon endless resources of courage, generosity, and cheer to make life happen.
This time has been no different. Yet, every time this happens, we are amazed and uplifted. As we should be.
Amid all the devastation and despair, the ordinary person emerges with an extraordinary ability to endure with a smile, and build, and forge ahead. Where does this energy come from? How does sunshine break through the clouds?
Think about the amazing patience of those waiting to be rescued, surrounded by swirling waters rising by the hour. They had no idea when and if help would come. But still they waited, as mobile networks collapsed and provisions dwindled. At a home for abandoned children in the heart of the city, for instance, the water is waist-high even as I write. The kitchen and classrooms are under water, and the children have scrambled to supposed safety on the first floor. They have no food, no drinking water, nor even facilities to relieve themselves. They are afraid and uncomfortable and insecure: yet the images we see on television screens of the children looking out of the windows reflect the light of hope in their eyes. They believe someone will come for them.
The good Samaritans
And someone is indeed coming. They have emerged wherever there have been signals of helplessness.
At Little Flower Convent, a school for the visually and hearing impaired, young volunteers stand in waist-deep water passing along boxes of food and essentials in a chain of working hands and wet bodies. Their very sight brings a smile to those trapped inside. In kalyana mandapams and school halls, groups of volunteers from the locality are quietly putting together freshly-cooked and ready food and dispatching them to be distributed in various areas.
Drive anywhere in the city: you will see people singly or in groups — reaching out with armloads of dry sheets and clothes and water bottles. Traffic snarling through sloshing, slushy streets is being directed by ordinary citizens so that the flow is maintained as smoothly as possible. Surprisingly, the honking has been minimal; even notoriously arrogant road hogs seem to have risen to the occasion and turned down their impatience. Homes are being opened up to accommodate friends, family, and strangers; passers-by give lifts to the stranded, even in pelting rain.
Time for the new
This is not to say everything’s hunky-dory. Not by a long shot. There has been looting and bullying, and the State government is nowhere on the scene. Only the corporation workers have braved the rain and traffic jams and long distances from home to try and unclog drains and pipes.
The most miraculous thing, though, has been the way the young have responded: spontaneously, without hesitation and with complete commitment. The news report about a 12 th standard boy who decided to go out there and be useful instead of using the extra holidays to mug, exemplifies the grace that has risen from the detritus of flooding.
Those who can, are out there in the streets, wet, dirty and stinking. They don’t care for photo-ops and coverage. They are just doing it. If they are the future of this country, then we are in safe hands. It’s time we started trusting them.
Come elections, shall we boot out the old and usher in the new?